“Although our indigenous knowledge is sacred and we wish to protect it within our own communities, we know that when we share this knowledge among ourselves, that is crucial for our existence. These surrounding communities of environmentalists, scientists, activists, artists, storytellers, and foragers care about the Land and stories of the Land. Exchange of our knowledge is a symbol of our solidarity among our homelands and our rights to remain related to the Land. So, we share this knowledge knowing that we want our folks fed and taken care of for our fight of unity. That this exchange is a ripple effect towards the culture of the region and the philosophy of Land.” - Bryce Burrell¹

The origin of what is now called Appalachia comes from the original peoples of the Appalachian Region. What was previously called “Apalachee” or “Appalachi” lands are what is now known as Georgia and Florida. In the documentation of the Conquistador Hernando De Soto’s expedition of the Southeastern United States in the mid-1500s, De Soto expressed that they came across a Muskogee community. “Derived from the Muscogee words of ‘Apala’ (meaning great ocean) and chi (meaning those by the sea) and compounded into Apalachi.”² The word “Appalachia” comes from that anglicization from “Apalachee”. There is also documentation of another expedition of Conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez when coming across Apalachee peoples in what is now called Florida earlier, in the 1500s. Although the translations of Appalachia are contested whether it is from the records from De Soto and Narváez, the trance goes back to the Muscogee communities of Apalachi.

“Mid-eighteenth-century maps charted a vast Indian country with six clusters of notable settlements east of the Mississippi River.”³ Eastern Woodland people are often defined through Indigenous cultures that are related to the region of the North American continent east of the Mississippi River. “By the time Euro-Americans mapped Indian country west to the Mississippi, Native American identities had undergone significant changes in response to colonialism’s deadly mix of disease and warfare.”⁴ It was the colonial conceptualization of the Appalachian region going all the way up to the Blue Ridge Mountains that resulted in the loss of many communities and culture. So many stories related to the Land of Appalachia are forgotten and lost.

The Commons is the conceptualization towards a cultural and historical relationship with the Appalachian Land. “The Commons is defined as a system of communally shared resources and services, and of ‘commons-making’, as processes of social reciprocity and sharing by individuals and communal-regional groups, remain[ing] constant over time.”⁵ Responsibly engaging with the Commons requires an understanding of what it means for a community to share resources and how to protect those in need of those resources. Throughout Appalachia, the Commons have become enclosed and less accessible through invasion of industry. Land historically used and co-managed for hunting, foraging, and grazing was purchased and controlled by industrial interests in the 19th century, leading to large swaths of land made inaccessible by local land users. ⁶ Much of this land was owned by absentee landowners that brought large-scale environmental destruction through clear-cut logging and coal mining, effectively “deliver[ing] an ax to the neck of the peasant economy” that was previously supported by the Commons.⁷

The practice of Foraging is an act for the survival of the community culture of the Commons. Appalachian Foraging traces back through many Indigenous communities from the region that carries the name of its original people. When it comes to foraging knowledge, there is always a story tied to that knowledge. For many Indigenous communities, there is a story that usually communicates the uses, what the foraged item looks like, where it is, and the importance of the specific flora and fauna for the community. Since the foundation of the American capitalist and neoliberal paradigm, the extraction of Land alongside these stories has been destroying the culture of Appalachia, a culture that is grounded in community and resourcefulness. A culture where the flora and fauna have rights with the people. A culture that would protect these rights, as they are essential for the survival of the region as a whole. Appalachia and its stories of foraging are the resistance of its culture.

Foraging: Acts of Resistance alongside Relations

The map presented in this exhibit below serves as an exercise in, and an example of, the potential locality of food security and the persistence of forest commons despite an ever-growing urban landscape. For millennia, Eastern Woodland Peoples have been stewarding the land to promote oak and hickory growth, important food sources and ingredients in traditional dishes like the Yesą́ Acorn Cake. As this map shows, these trees are abundant within the developments and infrastructure of Virginia Tech’s campus. In addition to acorns and hickories, berries, spices, and herbs grow around us, largely ignored by the current population of Blacksburg, but composing nutritious and traditional recipes. Not only are these food sources illustrated by our map and the Yesą́ Acorn Cake and Wojapi Yesą́ Sauce recipes abundant, accessible, and local, but their usage builds connections between ourselves, our local plant communities, and our human communities. Foraging bridges two aspects of ecological knowledge, both TEK (traditional ecological knowledge) and SEK (scientific ecological knowledge), as one learns to identify and relate to plants they would otherwise not notice. Foraging leads to an attitude of stewardship, as plants become personally meaningful and useful through their gathering and consumption.

Importantly, foraging also connects and sustains community, for as Bryce Burrell asserts, “Food is everywhere, but people are still hungry.”⁸ Taken together, foraging can be seen as an act of resistance alongside relations. Structural factors drive hunger globally, including conflict, climate change, and the wastefulness and inequalities of capitalist food systems.⁹

Foraging provides a local and non-capitalist alternative to these systems, in which knowledge exchange simultaneously builds community and encourages connection to land. Commercial American Agriculture reinforces the grocery-store-to-the-family-table pipeline, facilitating the public’s reliance on that system. As Billings and Blee maintain, “Rural Appalachia was regulated by traditional values which once served the region well, but were no longer functional in the modern, rapidly changing society being diffused throughout the region by urbanization and industrialization.”¹⁰

Foraging Map for Yesą́ Acorn Cakes and Wojapi Yesą́ Sauce Recipes in and around Blacksburg, Virginia

Yesą́ Acorn Cakes and Wojapi Yesą́ is a recipe inspired by the Monacan Contemporary Cookbook. This recipe uses ingredients tied to the Yesah people and the region of Appalachia.¹¹

Use this interactive map to find ingredients for the recipes below.

Yesą́ Acorn Cakes

Acorn Cakes

Basic Recipe for Acorn Cakes

• 2 ½ cups of acorn flour
• 1 cups of corn flour
• 1 teaspoon of hickory wood ash
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• ½ cup of maple syrup
• ½ cup of hickory milk
• ¼ cup of water
• 2 tablespoon of butter or fat from hickory oil
• 2 eggs

In a mixing bowl, add acorn flour, corn masa, baking powder, baking soda, and hickory wood ash. Then stir until all the dry ingredients are combined.

Warm butter or the fat from hickory oil with the microwave or stove top til it is a liquid.

In the mixing bowl, add the liquid ingredients (warmed butter/fat, maple syrup, hickory milk, and water) to the mixture alongside the maple syrup or molasses and the plant milk option. Then stir the mixture until it is a thick batter.

In a frying pan or skillet, add two tablespoons of oil to the skillet to heat up. Scoop two tablespoons of the batter and pat the batter into a small cake.

With a spatula, place the cake on the frying pan/skillet. Cook until the tops of the pancakes begin to bubble around the edges and the bottom is golden brown. Flip the pancakes and cook until the bottom is golden brown. Continue the process until the batter is used up.

Ta:skaho:i (Oak)

Ta:skaho:i (Taa-Skaa-Hoe-Eee) is the Yesą́ word for oak. Oaks (Quercus) have many other names associated with the peoples of the Appalachian Mountains. According to Monacan scholar Victoria Persinger Ferguson, “Oaks are an important traditional food source for Eastern Woodland People, and have been throughout history.”¹² This importance is reflected in the land-use patterns of Eastern Woodland People. Oak species are early-successional trees which are promoted by disturbance events such as burning and forest clearing. Paleoclimate data in the eastern United States from 1650-1700 shows a higher incidence of oak relative to late-successional trees.¹³ These patterns reveal the land stewardship of Eastern Woodland People through burning and forest clearing to promote this important food source.¹⁴ The same patterns have been found locally, in eastern Virginia, where oak forests were more common following Indigenous burning before the modern practices of fire suppression.¹⁵ Oaks are a crucial part of Eastern Woodland traditional food systems. Rarámuri ethnobotanist Enrique Salmon discusses the many uses of oaks within Indigenous communities, noting, “For American Indians across North America, oaks provide a fountain of uses, from materials for tools, constructions, toys, dyes, even games to medicine and food.”¹⁶ For the region of Appalachia, there are many species of oaks, but the white oaks and red oaks are the most treasured.

Ta:skahoi:i asą́ (Taa-Skaa-Hoe-Eee As) is the Yesa:sahį word for Quercus bicolor (swamp white oak) and Quercus Alba (white oak). These two white oak species are highly valued among Eastern Woodland Peoples for their acorns and wood. As Victoria Persinger Ferguson has noted, “White oak acorns also provided the Eastern Siouan tribes a flour option other than bread.” The acorns are most preferred due to the lower concentration of tannins and the mass of the meat when shelled. White oak wood is preferred traditionally for communities in Appalachia for smoking meats and campfires, as found in both historical and contemporary data. A wood charcoal analysis from the late prehistoric Mount Joy site in Botetourt County, Virginia, revealed a high incidence of white oak (46%), followed by hickory (15%), black walnut (9%), and red oak (6%).¹⁷ This analysis shows the utilization of white oaks and their predominance in the Eastern Woodland food system.

Ta: skahoi:i aču:ti (Taa-Skaa-Hoe-Eee Ahh-Choo-Tee) is the the Yesa:sahį translation for Red Oak. Red Oak (Quercus rubra) is notably identifiable from distinct ridges in the bark. Red oak is a very high value species for timber production- especially in firewood, lumber and medicine. The bark from Red Oaks can be utilized for multiple applications when it comes to medicine. As Salmón reveals, “Red Oak bark is a great source of several medicines. Both the leaves and the bark can be used to reduce bleeding and to treat hemorrhoids through rubbing directed to skin.”¹⁸The bark from Red Oak also is used as a tanning agent for deer hides.

Úti is the Yesa:sahį translation for Acorns. Monacan Indian Nation elder and historian Victoria Persinger Ferguson discusses the utilization of acorns as a food source for Eastern Woodland communities, explaining, “Acorns alongside hickories and pecans are the common foods that Eastern Woodlands would prioritize when it came to harvesting and foraging.”¹⁹ Acorns are the nuts from oaks. Acorns are a high source of carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats. Acorns are a staple food within the harvest season for many Indigenous communities in Turtle Island: “Acorns are normally ground into a fine meal and either used to make breads, mush, and porridge or added to stews as a thickener.”²⁰ As stated by Enrique Salmon, “White oak is said to produce the sweetest acorns in the East.”²¹ Acorns from Red Oaks are notably described to have a higher concentration of tannins than white oaks. Their bitterness is useful in pressing for oils and a natural deterrent/ insecticide for plants.

In order to process acorns, the nuts must be shelled for their white nut meat. Then the meat is soaked in water to remove the bitter tannins from the nut meat. This process is called leaching. In Appalachia, there are different approaches for leaching acorns to remove the tannins. A traditional method of leaching is called “cold leaching”, in which “Communities would collect their shelled acorns into a basket and place them in a running stream or river to leach them for days to remove the tannins.”²² A resourceful contemporary cold-leach method, dubbed the Toilet Bowl Leaching Method, entails placing the shelled acorns in a cheesecloth or a sack and soaking them in the upper water tank of a toilet, then flushing the tank in one-hour intervals until it is clear of tannins. The acorns are then rinsed in the sink and left for two to three days before being used. The method being displayed in the photos below is the slower leaching refrigerator method. The unshelled acorns are collected in the mason jar filled with water. Over time, the water will turn into a yellowish tan color in the jar. Then the water is replenished periodically and filtered out until the water is clear. A faster form of contemporary leaching is hot leaching. This process requires grinding the acorn meat and collecting it in a cheese cloth. Then the cheese cloth is placed in boiling water. When the water turns a dark brown color, remove the water with new boiling water. This process is continued until the water is clear. The leftover tannin-filled water can then also be used for dying clothes and plant fibers.

Uskak (Hickory)

Uskak (pronounced Oak-Sak) is the Chahta anumpa (Choctaw) translation for Hickory. Hickory (genus Carya) is another treasured tree species for Eastern Woodlands peoples, which was purposefully stewarded in Virginia. The same burning and forest clearing practices that promoted oaks also promoted hickory trees, whose nuts are an important fat source for Eastern Woodland People.²³ As a mid-successional species, land clearing and burning practices led to higher numbers of hickories, which, according to one historical dataset from the late 1600s, were the second-most recorded tree species after oaks in a portion of eastern Virginia near Washington DC and east of Richmond.²⁴ In the Yesą́ Acorn Cakes, hickory nuts form the fat source in the form of a milk. The meat of the hickory nuts are separated from the shell and boiled until a foam forms on the top of the water. The foam is removed, and what is left is a nutritious, fatty hickory milk ready to be used in the Yesą́ Acorn Cake recipe. Traditionally, the shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) is the preferred hickory species for this recipe, as it has a large, easily cracked nut with a large portion of fatty meat.²⁵

In the Acorn Cake recipe, hickory ash is also used as a salt. Hickory nuts and corn would often be incorporated in tandem with the diets for a lot of Eastern Woodland communities, especially Monacan communities. As stated in the book Monacan Millennium in the discussion of the archaeology of ancestral Monacan sites, “The Graham-White Village in the Piedmont interior dates to the period after English colonization…the site showed maize and hickory nuts were the dominant plant food in the remains.”²⁶ But the more preferred utilization of hickory ash is in a process called nixtamalization. “The word nextamalli or nixtamal combines the Nahuatl words nextli, which means ashes, and tamalli, which refers to the maize dough or masa in Spanish.”²⁷ It is a process in which one soaks their corn in water with wood ash, lime, or any source of alkaline. The solution breaks down the hard cell walls of corn and releases the pectin inside. This makes it possible for the masa to form a strong bond and prevents it from cracking when handled and cooked. It also makes the corn easier to digest and the nutrients more bioavailable. The color, taste, and scent of the maize likewise deepen and intensify. This procedure is attributed to the Aztec and Mayan cultures from the region of Mesoamerica. This process and the utilization of corn displays the migration and the trade of Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. “The process of using ashes to make hominy continued with Eastern Siouan communities like those of the Monancan Confederacy. The documentation from Mount Joy Site (44B02) Botetourt County, Virginia shows evidence of wood ashes."²⁸ Eastern Woodlands like Monacans would process their corn through nixtamalization and make their cakes, breads, and hominy as well.

The distribution of this process and the utilization of corn provide evidence for the migration and the trade of Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. In the charcoal analysis from the late prehistorical Mount Joy site, wood ashes were found.²⁹ This indicates that “the process of using ashes to make hominy continued with Eastern Siouan communities like those of the Monancan Confederacy.”³⁰ Eastern Woodlands like Monacans would process their corn through nixtamalization and make their cakes, breads, and hominy as well. Due to its alkaline properties and the smoking flavor, the hickory ash is utilized for nixtamalization.

Wojapi Yesą́ Sauce

Basic Recipe for Wojapi Yesą́

This recipe was inspired by a traditional recipe made by Alicia Gear (Monacan Indian Nation and Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians).

• 1 cup of maple syrup
• 16 oz of Red Mulberries (Frozen)
• 16 oz of Blackberries (Frozen)
• 16 oz of Strawberries (Frozen)
• 8 oz of Raspberries (Frozen)
• 1 cup of American Plums Puree
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• ¼ cup of Staghorn sumac juice

How to make American Plum Puree

• Collect around 2 to 3 cups of American Plums and wash them off.
• Cut the plums in half and separate the pits from the Plums.
• Blend the plums in a blender to smooth.
• *Recommend to freeze the plums after separating the pits - easier to blend

How to make Staghorn Sumac Juice

• Separate the fuzzy berries from the branches.
• Collect around ½ cup of Staghorn Sumac Berries.
• Drop the berries into the boiling water.
• Brew the berries till the water turns a lit yellow color.
• *Recommend drying or dehydrating the berries before brewing - quicker to brew
• Grab all your frozen berries and let them sit out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. The longer they are out, the easier they are to mash.
• In an 8-Qt Stainless pot or cooking pot that heats up. Add the berries to the pot.
• As the berries heat up, use a masher or spoon to soften them. Mash the berries until they are mixed and soft. Once the berries are mashed, add 1 cup of water to the softened berries.
• Add salt, maple syrup, and Staghorn Sumac Juice to the berry mixture. Stir with a spoon.
• Stir and simmer the mixture til it returns to this thick consistency. Serve the Wojapi Yesą́ warm or cold.

Wojapi Yesą́ is a recipe inspired by the traditional dish sauce, Wojapi. Wojapi is translated from Lakota as a “fruit pudding”. “Wojapi is a traditional Native American dish made of stewed berries sweetened with honey or maple syrup. It is often served on its own as dessert or used as a sauce for meats, wild game, and vegetables.”³¹ This dish is an example of the Indigenous communities' utilizing what was accessible in the region and the time, especiall when it comes to foraging. Traditionally, Wojapi would be made with blueberries, strawberries, huckleberries, blackberries, and chokecherries. This recipe draws from the traditional Lakota dish but utilizes the ingredients of Eastern woodland communities, especially the Yesą́. This recipe includes blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, mulberries, wild cherries, and American plums that were foraged from shrubs from Virginia Tech campus, the Indigenous Community Garden at Virginia Tech and local parks in Blacksburg.

Bihi (Bee-hee) is the Chahta anumpa (Choctaw) word for mulberry. Red Mulberries (Morus rubra) are a precious food for many communities east to New Mexico. Bihi Hvshi translated in Chahta anumpa is ‘Mulberry Month’. Choctaws dedicated the whole month of May to this tree, for this is the time when mulberries are ready. Mulberry season can begin as early as late spring and continue into midsummer. The berries are prized for their flavorful sweet and mildly fig flavor or prune taste. The berries are great for clothing and plant cordage dyes. The leaves can be used for medicinal tea to lower blood sugar and the leaves and berries both possess anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

In the mixing bowl, add the liquid ingredients (warmed butter/fat, maple syrup, hickory milk, and water) to the mixture alongside the maple syrup or molasses and the plant milk option. Then stir the mixture until it is a thick batter.

Hasíaso:ti (Hah-see-ah-so-tee) is the Yesa:sahį word for blueberry. Blueberries (Vaccinium myrtilloides) are one of the most important berries for Indigenous communities in the Appalachian mountains. The bushes usually are ready around midsummer time. They are important to Appalachian cultures for their dietary nutrition, medicinal properties, and its practice of environmental management. Wild Blueberries are high in fiber and antioxidants alongside Vitamin C and K. Blueberries are used as medicine for coughs and colds. “The Iroquois use a decoction of the berries to treat itchy skin rashes.”³² Blueberries are also one of the plants that were stewarded from controlled burns and on-hand clearing, as Mucioki found that, “Biocultural stewardship practices, low-intensity fire, thinning, can be used in response to support berry plant health and productivity as well as a sustained relationship with this important food.”³³

Haspahínuk (Hah-spah-hee-nok) is the Yesa:sahį word for strawberry. Strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) are another sacred berry for Indigenous people. Potawotami ethnobotanist Robin Wall Kimmerer expresses Strawberries being treasured gifts throughout her peoples’ creation story of the Skywoman’s Daughter, who dies while giving birth to her twins, Flint and Sapling. The Skywoman buries her daughter in the earth: “Her final gifts, our most revered plants, grew from her body. The strawberry arose from her heart. In Potawatomi, the strawberry is ode min, the heart berry. We recognize them as the leaders of the berries, the first to bear fruit.”³⁴

Strawberries are both medicine and delicious food. Strawberries are rich in vitamin C and high in antioxidants. Eastern Woodlands, specifically the Haudenosaunee, would use strawberries for colds and coughs. The juice of strawberries can be used to treat eye irritation, inflammation in the skin, and sunburns. Mohawks are famous for their ceremonial strawberry water as it consists strictly of just sliced strawberries, water, and maple syrup for a little bit of sweetness. When CBC News interviewed the Kahnawake (Mohawk) community about the importance of the ceremony, community members emphasized strawberries as being an important traditional food. Kahnawake Seedkeeper Raven Swamp conveys how strawberries are important for Mohawk culture, stating, “It's very sacred to us. We give thanks to strawberries and that is the time when we name babies. It's a big part of who we are.”³⁵

Hasísiai (Hah-see-see-ah-see) is the Yesa:sahį word for raspberry. Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) is an important berry for food preservation among Eastern Woodland communities. These berries are dried and also used to make pemmican. Pimîhkân or Pemmican is a traditional Cree dish that is a mixture of dried meats, grease, and dried berries, specifically black raspberries. Black raspberries can be used to lower blood pressure and sugars. The leaves are used in a tea to assist in menstrual cycles, treating diarrhea, and sore throats.

Bashokcha Homma (Bah-sho-cha-cah hom-ma) is the Chahta (Choctaw) word for Staghorn Sumac. Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) is a prevalent shrub of the Eastern coast communities. “Staghorn sumac is not viewed by Native peoples as an invasive or a weed. It is a very important and useful plant for medicine and food.”³⁶ Staghorn Sumac is a shrub that produces the fuzzy, red fruit berries in the shape of a cone. The berries are known for their very lemony and also slight rhubarb taste. Staghorn sumac branches have been used as a spile for tapping maples and hickories for Yesah communities. As Shelley notes, “Our communities would use the spiles to tap our maple trees as they are very sturdy and when dried very much hollowed out.”³⁷

Italikchi ani (Ita-Leek-Chee An-Nee) is the Chahta word for cherries (Prunus spp.). American Plum (Prunus americana) shares the same translation with cherries for Choctaws. American Plums are usually bearing fruit around the late summer to the mid fall. Their taste is very fairly astringent and tart when the fruit bears. It is recommended to eat them when they have fallen from the tree or the fruit is a dark red or purple color. Indigenous communities in the Midwest and the northern region of the Appalachia would use the bark for medicine³⁸ Meshkwahkihaki (Meskwai) peoples used the bark to treat mouth ulcers and sore throats.

Personal Reflections on Foraging by the Authors

Bryce Burrell:

Foraging embodies my culture both as an Indigenous person and someone who spent the majority of his life in the Shenandoah Valley. For Choctaw peoples, agriculture and foraging embodies so much of our culture, especially during the harvest season. So many months are dedicated to relationships with our traditional foods and our community relationship. Hoponi Hvshi (Cooking Month-September), Chafo Iskitini Hvshi (Little Hunger Month-October), Hohchafo Chito Hvshi (Big Hunger Month-November) are the seasons where Choctaws gather as a community. My relationship with plants started with the women in my family. Starting with my Ipokni Chitto (Great Grandmothers), Ethel O’Quinn and Carrie Williams, they had us working with our family gardens speaking Chahta Anumpa. We come from several generations of sharecropping and farming. My Sashki (mother) would take my sister and I through hikes and have us identify hickories, oaks, black walnuts, and mayapples. My Grandfather would have us compete with the squirrels collecting black walnuts and hickory nuts to shell and crack in the winter.

Fʋla im issito (Fah-La Imm IssI-Too) is what we Choctaws called Mayapples. The English translation is “Crow pumpkin”. Mayapple are woodland plants that grow all over the east of the United States and Canada. It has distinct features of its umbrella and palmate foliage. Most of the parts of the plant are poisonous as it contains podophyllotoxin except for the ripened fruit. But Choctaw communities and other Southeastern Woodland communities have used fʋla im issito for medicinal uses alongside treating their crops of corn. Then we uses the fʋla im issito emerging from the ground to indicate that the time of planting and sowing is coming soon. By using the leaves of the fʋla im issito te and submerging them into the water, the mayapple tea is cultivated within a couple of days. Once the tea becomes more concentrated, our corn is soaked in it for at least 24 to 48 hours. Then the kernels can be directly sowed into the soil. The seed priming of the fʋla im issito speeds up the germination rate of the kernels by a couple of days. The tea also prevents crows from plucking the kernels as the tea omits a pungent smell. The fʋla im issito te can be used as a natural insecticide as it deters pests like seedcorn maggots and wireworm. I use this example of the traditional ecological knowledge that tied to my foraging that my family from the region of Appalachia.

I think about what it means to be a knowledge keeper and be a part of this communal exchange of the Commons. As I got older and pursued further my education, I realized the privilege that I have when it comes to the upbringing and my relationship with Land. On campus, I would come across serviceberries, mulberries, aronia berries and acorns. So I would collect them in my backpack or my lunchbag and I would get stares sometimes from folks. Some people would walk up and ask me what I am doing and I am happy to tell them that I am going to eat them. But folks would get really interested when I tell them all the things I use these types of plant for. So many people would say, “I walk by these trees all the time and would never think that I could eat any of these.” But this is a reaction I realized that many people including from my hometown and even from my tribal community feel.

Working with Alexander Dyer, I really got excited about the storytelling aspects and the wonders of foraging and plant stuff. It is very amazing to get to work with someone that has a passion and expertise in the environment. When hearing about Alexander’s experiences with the Park Service and his stories about foraging really made me cherish the moments that I will engage when foraging with my friends and family. I am very happy to share some of those memories with going out and sharing some of that traditional ecological knowledge that I acquired both as an ethnobotanist but as being of the region. Alex taught me how to utilize mapping with GIS, which I was in awe of! This experience gave a great exchange of knowledge. This gave me the realization that the desire to engage with the Land and wanting to protect the Land is universal.

Alex Dyer:

Foraging was my gateway to a deeper appreciation and understanding of plant communities in Appalachia. I began by foraging ramps (Allium tricoccum) in North Carolina while hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2019, and continued foraging after finishing the Appalachian Trail. In the Appalchian foothills of southern Ohio, near where I lived at the time, I would search for ramps, chanterelles (Cantharellus spp.), dryad's saddle (Polyporus squamosus), maitake (Grifola fondosa), chicken of the woods (Laetiporus spp.), and fiddlehead fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris). Most importantly, I searched (mostly unsuccessfully) for morels (Morchella spp.). Between two springtimes of weekly forays into the hills to hunt fervently for Morchella, I had found a grand total of four morel mushrooms.

Finding the morels was not the important part of this foraging effort, however. My commitment to learning where to hunt these elusive fungi led to taking in a wide swath of plant knowledge as I learned about morels’ symbiotic relationship with trees. I learned to identify tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipfera), American elm (Ulmus americana), and slippery elm trees (Ulmus rubra) during leaf-off season, early in the spring when morels would appear at their base. Hours, days, and weeks spent eyeing the ground as I slowly plodded along the base of trees built familiarity with the herbs and flowers of Appalachia, including mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), trillium (Trillium spp.), and Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum). In retrospect, I can connect my early experiences with foraging to my current research in biogeography and restoration ecology. My initial curiosity for foraging came out of a desire to cook with what came from nature, but once I had the names and context for the inhabitants of my local forests, my interest grew until I began taking classes in dendrology and biogeography. Currently, years after dipping my toes into foraging, my graduate research is focused on the restoration of the sensitive red spruce (Picea rubens) in southern Appalachia. This research, and biogeography generally, I would not have gotten involved in were it not for foraging as an exposure and introduction to relational modes of connection with a landscape.

Working with Bryce Burrell on this exhibit, I am humbled in the same way that foraging Morchella humbled me years ago. As a scientist with colonizer ancestors, trained to think via scientific ecological knowledge, I find that my knowledge is surface-level and my relationship with the plant life of Appalachia is young. I am only just learning about the myriad of ways that the trees, shrubs, vines, and herbs that we cohabitate with can be used for mutual benefit. This nascent understanding is not a problem, but an opportunity to continue learning and developing my relationships with both plants and people. One perspective I gained from working with Bryce is that community and resilience can be grounded in the sharing of knowledge. If I have more knowledge to take in, I therefore have more community to build.

Conclusion

Colonists referred to Indigenous land use as illegitimate and obsolete. “In 1621, the Puritan Robert Cushman expressed that the country was still raw, the land untilled; the cities not built; the cattle settled.”³⁹ This philosophy pushed the narrative that the Land was wild and unkept and needed to be conquered. Colonization has demonized the stories of Indigenous people and their relationship with Land. As stated by Ethnobotanist Linda Black Elk (Korean, Mongolian, and Catawba descent) and Anthropologist Janelle Marie Baker in Plants, People, and Places: The Roles of Ethnobotany and Ethnoecology in Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights in Canada and Beyond, “Berries in the regions of the Pacific West United States and Canada are suffering from decades of fire suppression, denial of Indigenous stewardship practices, climate change, and resource extraction.”⁴⁰ Colonization would deem that indigenous stewardship and knowledge are primitive. Capitalism would have these recipes and the knowledge around the ingredients have a paywall. Capitalism would keep these areas that we have mapped hidden, or worse, they would close these areas to extract dry. Capitalism and Colonization work in lockstep with one another. It is because of these two that Appalachia forgets that their culture is Indigenous and that many Indigenous peoples have lost their relationship with the Land and their identity of being Appalachian peoples.

Through keeping foraging practice alive and embedded in the community, there is an element of rejecting the capitalist and colonial framework. The knowledge of the plants are shared among those in need and those that want to care. A forager understands that the Land has a history and knows the importance that history holds on the culture. Whether it is referred to the Land, the Commons, or Appalachia, Appalachian foragers are the protectors and the storytellers who are actively working against the forces of extraction and exploitation. Indigenous Stories are Appalachian Stories. And Appalachian Stories are Indigenous Stories. Foraging traditions and storytelling will protect the Commons and Appalachia.

Glossary

Word	Pronunciation	Community	English Reference
Bashokcha Homma	Bah-sho-cha-cah hom-ma	Choctaw	Staghorn Sumac
Bihi	Bee-hee	Choctaw	Mulberry
Chahta	Chah-tah	Choctaw	Choctaw
Chafo Iskitini Hvshi	Cha-Foe Iss-Kit-Inni Haa-Shee	Choctaw	Little Hunger Month - October
Fʋla im issito	Fah-La Imm IssI-Too	Choctaw	Mayapple, “Crow Pumpkin”
Hasísiai	Hah-see-see-ah-see	Yesah	Raspberry
Hasíaso:ti	Hah-see-ah-so-tee	Yesah	Blueberry
Haspahínuk	Hah-spah-hee-nok	Yesah	Strawberry
Hohchafo Chito Hvshi	Hoo-Cha-Foe Chii-Too Haa-Shee	Choctaw	Big Hunger Month - November
Ipokni Chitto	Pac-Nee Chii-Too	Choctaw	Great Grandmother
Italikchi ani	Ita-Leek-Chee An-Nee	Choctaw	Cherries/Plums
Kahnawake	Kaan-Naa-Waan-Gay	Mohawk	Mohawk
Monascane	Mona-Sca-Nein	Yesah	Central Virginia Montane Region
Sashki	Sesh-Kee	Choctaw	Mother
Ta:skaho:i	Taa-Skaa-Hoe-Eee	Yesah	Oak
Ta: skahoi:i aču:ti	Taa-Skaa-Hoe-Eee Ahh-Choo-Tee	Yesah	Red Oak
Úti	Yoo-Tee	Yesah	Acorn
Uskak	Ook-Sak	Choctaw	Hickory
Yesa:sahį	Yay-Sah Sah-Heen	Yesah	Eastern Siouan Language

Translations from (Swanton et al., 2015), (Shelley, 2024), (Ferguson, 2024), and (Burrell, 2024).⁴¹

References

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1. Burrell, Bryce. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Choctaw, Mississippi. Lives in Blacksburg, VA. Oral teaching, personal communication. October 2024.Back to top.
2. Walls, D. S. (1977). On the Naming of Appalachia. In J. W. Williamson (Ed.), An Appalachian Symposium (pp. 56–56). Appalachian State University. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1xp3mkm.9Back to top.
3. Anderson, V. D. (1994). King Philip’s Herds: Indians, Colonists, and the Problem of Livestock in Early New England. The William and Mary Quarterly, 51(4), 601–624. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/2946921Back to top.
4. Anderson, V. D. (1994). King Philip’s Herds: Indians, Colonists, and the Problem of Livestock in Early New England. The William and Mary Quarterly, 51(4), 601–624. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/2946921Back to top.
5. Boyer, J. C. (2006). Reinventing the Appalachian Commons. Analysis: The International Journal of Anthropology, 50(3), 217–232.Back to top.
6. Newfont, K. (2012). Blue Ridge Commons: Environmental Activism and Forest History in Western North Carolina. The University of Georgia Press.; Stoll, S. (2017). Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia. Hill and Wang.Back to top.
7. Stoll, S. (2017). Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia. Hill and Wang, p.140.Back to top.
8. Burrell, Bryce. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Choctaw, Mississippi. Lives in Blacksburg, VA. Oral teaching, personal communication. October 2024.Back to top.
9. Long, M.A., Gonçalves, L., Stretesky, P.B., Defeyter, M.A. (2020). Food Insecurity in Advanced Capitalist Nations: A Review. Sustainability, 12, 3654. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093654; World Food Program USA. (2024). “The Biggest Drivers of Hunger”. https://www.wfpusa.org/drivers-of-hunger/.Back to top.
10. Lewis, R. L., and Billings, D. B. (1997). Appalachian Culture and Economic Development: A Retrospective View on the Theory and Literature. Journal of Appalachian Studies, 3(1), 3–42. JSTOR.Back to top.
11. The Monacan Indian Nation. (1998). The Monacan Indian Cookbook.Back to top.
12. Ferguson, Victoria. (2024). Monacan Indian Nation. Amherst, Virginia. Lives in Roanoke, VA. Working publication. Food Practices of Eastern Woodland/Eastern Siouan of the Upper Mid-Atlantic: Living Off the Land.Back to top.
13. Abrams, M.D., Nowacki, J.G., Hanberry, B.B., (2021). "Oak forests and woodlands as Indigenous landscapes in the Eastern United States," The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, 149(2), 101-121. https://doi.org/10.3159/TORREY-D-21-00024.1Back to top.
14. Abrams, M.D., Nowacki, J.G., Hanberry, B.B., (2021). "Oak forests and woodlands as Indigenous landscapes in the Eastern United States," The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, 149(2), 101-121. https://doi.org/10.3159/TORREY-D-21-00024.1Back to top.
15. Abrams, M.D., Johnson, S.E. (2019). Witness Tree Records for the Early Colonial Period (1623-1700) of Eastern Virginia. The American Midland Naturalist 181(1), 115-122. https://doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031-181.1.115Back to top.
16. Salmón, E. (2020). Iwigara: Kinship of Plants and People—American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science. Timber Press.Back to top.
17. Whyte, Thomas R. (2002). Archaeofaunal remains form the Late Prehistoric Mount Joy site in Botetourt County, Virginia. Banisteria : A Journal Devoted to the Natural History of Virginia, 20, 45--52. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/298362Back to top.
18. Salmón, E. (2020). Iwigara: Kinship of Plants and People—American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science. Timber Press.Back to top.
19. Ferguson, Victoria. (2024). Monacan Indian Nation. Amherst, Virginia. Lives in Roanoke, VA. Working publication. Food Practices of Eastern Woodland/Eastern Siouan of the Upper Mid-Atlantic: Living Off the Land.Back to top.
20. Salmón, E. (2020). Iwigara: Kinship of Plants and People—American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science. Timber Press.Back to top.
21. Salmón, E. (2020). Iwigara: Kinship of Plants and People—American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science. Timber Press.Back to top.
22. Ferguson, Victoria. (2024). Monacan Indian Nation. Amherst, Virginia. Lives in Roanoke, VA. Working publication. Food Practices of Eastern Woodland/Eastern Siouan of the Upper Mid-Atlantic: Living Off the Land.Back to top.
23. Abrams, M.D., Johnson, S.E. (2019). Witness Tree Records for the Early Colonial Period (1623-1700) of Eastern Virginia. The American Midland Naturalist 181(1), 115-122. https://doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031-181.1.115; Ferguson, Victoria. (2024). Monacan Indian Nation. Amherst, Virginia. Lives in Roanoke, VA. Working publication. Food Practices of Eastern Woodland/Eastern Siouan of the Upper Mid-Atlantic: Living Off the Land.Back to top.
24. Abrams, M.D., Johnson, S.E. (2019). Witness Tree Records for the Early Colonial Period (1623-1700) of Eastern Virginia. The American Midland Naturalist 181(1), 115-122. https://doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031-181.1.115Back to top.
25. Burrell, Bryce. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Choctaw, Mississippi. Lives in Blacksburg, VA. Oral teaching, personal communication. October 2024.Back to top.
26. Hantman, J. L. (2018). The Archaeology of Ancestral Monacan Society. In Monacan Millennium (pp. 77–107). University of Virginia Press; JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv5rf6xd.7Back to top.
27. Clampitt, C. (2015). From Oaxaca to the World, or How Maize Became Corn. In Midwest Maize (pp. 5–16). University of Illinois Press; JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/stable/10.5406/j.ctt130jtgd.5Back to top.
28. Ferguson, Victoria. (2024). Monacan Indian Nation. Amherst, Virginia. Lives in Roanoke, VA. Working publication. Food Practices of Eastern Woodland/Eastern Siouan of the Upper Mid-Atlantic: Living Off the Land.Back to top.
29. Whyte, Thomas R. (2002). Archaeofaunal remains form the Late Prehistoric Mount Joy site in Botetourt County, Virginia. Banisteria : A Journal Devoted to the Natural History of Virginia, 20, 45--52. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/298362Back to top.
30. Ferguson, Victoria. (2024). Monacan Indian Nation. Amherst, Virginia. Lives in Roanoke, VA. Working publication. Food Practices of Eastern Woodland/Eastern Siouan of the Upper Mid-Atlantic: Living Off the Land.Back to top.
31. Salmón, E. (2020). Iwigara: Kinship of Plants and People—American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science. Timber Press.Back to top.
32. Salmón, E. (2020). Iwigara: Kinship of Plants and People—American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science. Timber Press.Back to top.
33. Mucioki, M. (2024). Climate and land-use change impacts on cultural use berries: Considerations for mitigative stewardship. Plants People Planet, 6(4), 791–802. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10500Back to top.
34. Kimmerer, R. W. (2015). Braiding Sweetgrass. Milkweed Editions.Back to top.
35. Deer, K. (2018, June 30). Strawberry harvest has cultural and ceremonial significance for Kahnawake community. CBC Indigenous. https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/kahnawake-mohawk-community-garden-strawberries-1.4728940Back to top.
36. Salmón, E. (2020). Iwigara: Kinship of Plants and People—American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science. Timber Press.Back to top.
37. Shelley, 2024Back to top.
38. King, B. (2003). The Ethnobotany of the Miami Tribe: Traditional plant use from historical texts [Miami University Honors Theses]. ttp://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=muhonors1110917365Back to top.
39. Anderson, V. D. (1994). King Philip’s Herds: Indians, Colonists, and the Problem of Livestock in Early New England. The William and Mary Quarterly, 51(4), 601–624. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/2946921Back to top.
40. Elk, L. B., & Baker, J. M. (2020). From Traplines to Pipelines: In N. J. Turner (Ed.), Plants, People, and Places (pp. 173–187). McGill-Queen’s University Press; JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv153k6x6.18Back to top.
41. Swanton, J. R., Byington, C., & Halbert, H. S. (2015). A Dictionary of the Choctaw Language—Scholar’s Choice Edition. Bibliolife DBA of Bibilio Bazaar II LLC. https://books.google.com/books?id=8TxZrgEACAAJ; Ferguson, Victoria. Monacan Indian Nation. Amherst, Virginia. Lives in Roanoke, VA. Oral teaching, personal communication. November 2024; Burrell, Bryce. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Choctaw, Mississippi. Lives in Blacksburg, VA. Oral teaching, personal communication. October 2024.; Shelley 2024.Back to top.